The Bears hosted former Notre Dame linebacker Manti Te’o on a pre-draft visit, Ben Volin of the Palm Beach Post reported Wednesday.
According to Jeff Dickerson of ESPN Chicago, the meeting between the Bears and Te’o occurred at the club’s Lake Forest, Ill. headquarters in recent weeks. The team and its long-time starting middle linebacker, Brian Urlacher, could not reach a new contract agreement earlier in the offseason.
The Bears have added veteran linebackers James Anderson and D.J. Williams in free agency and currently have nine players at the position.
The Bears have one pick in each of the first two rounds (Nos. 20 and 50, respectively). They dealt their third-round selection to Miami for Brandon Marshall in 2012.
Few prospects have ever drawn as much scrutiny as Te’o has, and the occasion of his drafting will spark another round of stories about his past. Then, the workouts will begin with his new club, and we will start to get some fresh data points on the issue of whether or not he can play on the NFL level.